Its all .120 wall so there there is less material (and weight) than you might think. I don't think there are too many people that would consider .120 wall "overkill" in a rockrail application. I tried to use a better design with thinner material.
If you still think its overkill, start searching around here for a picture of the rockrails on CRASH's first rig (Princess 1 I believe is what he called it). If memory serves, he had replaced the rockers with a piece of 2x6 .250 wall tube. The picture shows this piece of tube is bent pretty badly because it had no (or limited?) supports from the frame rail.
Since the new rockrail is only 2x4, it actually doesn't currently stick out past the doors at all. I still need to bend up a chunk of round tubing to provide some additional protection. Someday I will plate supports to give it a "boatside" like finish to prevent any problems getting hung up in deep rocks.
This is how the finished product should look after the round tube gets done:
As for the doors, just a little bit of work and they go back on just fine. I love snow wheelin, so keeping this thing weatherproof is a must.
Cut Here (bout 2"):
Weld Here:
Finished Product This picture makes it look like the door overlaps the rock rail. The door does in fact sit entirely above the main 2x4 chunk of tube.
A few more pics of the project can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jmckenzie5/JeepRockRailProject
And although I hope and expect these rockrails will be "Johnson Valley Approved" - I am from the good part of California; you know, the northern part. :looser:
JM